Other Minds Festivals ➔ Other Minds Festival: OM 6: Concert 2 (March 17, 2000), 2 of 6
Digital Audio
Event Type
MusicOrigin
Other MindsIdentifier
OMF.2000.03.17.c1.BProgram Series
Other Minds FestivalProgram Length
90 minPart
2 of 6Dates
| broadcast| 2000-03-17 | created
Description
String Quartet No. 3,"There must be some way out of here"The subtitle "There must be some way out of here" is a quotation from "All Along the Watchtower" by Bob Dylan. A song that particularly embodies the philosophy of life as expressed by the rock generation from which ter Veldhuis emerges.
There must be some way out of here
said the joker to the thief.
There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief...
The text can be seen as optimistic or despairing, but also as encapsulating an idea to be explored. That is the spirit in which the Third Quartet was conceived. The music is all about sound, about the forces of attraction and repulsion revolving around the central note D. And for ter Veldhuis, sound also means harmony. In that sense, "There must be some way out of here" is a search for a harmonic resolution: in the words of the composer far from the faded avant-garde, from threadbare conceptualism and post-modernism. This search yields a huge spectrum of events: a maze of side roads, abrupt transitions, and apparent lacunae. The search for a new aesthetic for ter Veldhuis does not, however, mean falling back into a romantic idiom. On the contrary, the Third Quartet is in essence one large crescendo, with striking elements drawn from rock and blues. Originally the composer wanted to call it "Life and the Boy" because of its extraordinary energy, and as a deliberate inversion of Schubert's "Death and the Maiden".
Rain Study
Much of the material for “Rain Study” has its origin in "Sanyombul," a Korean folk song. The words to "Sanyombul" state:
The sun that sets will rise again tomorrow
A life that passes will never return
The piece is the second of a series of studies for solo piano that was initiated by Piano Study 1 (1997). These are studies for both the pianist and the composer; the focus of both works is on the multi-layering of melodies and the superimposition of the pianist's hands. The work was written for Thomas Schultz and was first performed by him at Old First Concerts, in San Francisco, in April 1999. - Hyo-shin Na
Bright Angel - Hermetic Bird
Was a commission from Aki Takahashi, in memory of her husband, Kuniharu Akiyama. As Kuniharu was also a friend of mine, I was grateful for the opportunity to say farewell, in music. The piece is in two movements, as indicated by the title of the work. "Bright Angel" refers to the viewpoint on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona — the up-and-down motive in the opening is a very literal reference to the depth of the Canyon. I went there in early October 1996, thinking about this piece. I arrived at the North Rim, and Bright Angel, just at sunset, when everything was transformed into a magical, golden red-brown color. I knew then that I had a title and an image for the piece for Kuniharu.
"Hermetic Bird" is the title of a poem by one of my favorite poets, San Francisco's own Philip Lamantia (b. 1927). It refers to Kuniharu's and my interest in surrealism, and the fact that Kuniharu venerated the owl as a kind of totemic emblem (and besides, he said, laughing, his face looked like an owl's). In his home, he had an entire table of little owl figurines that he had collected from all over the world. Of course, in Mexico the owl is closely associated with death; but when I think of Kuniharu Akiyama, I only think of joy, and life. - Peter Garland
Blue Yellow River
The title and much of the pitch material for”Blue Yellow River” come from Hwanghacheong (a piece of Korean Court music). Hwanghacheong evokes a time so peaceful that even the Yellow River will turn blue. The inspiration for “Blue Yellow River” came from my revisit, after 20 years, to Seok-gu-ram (in the old Silla capital of Kyungju), the site of the much-venerated 1,250-year-old statue of Buddha. This statue is known for its unusually tranquil appearance and is the subject of the following poem by the 20th century writer Chee-hwan Yu:
Great Buddha Statue of Seok-gu-ram
My throat tightens
Unbearable weeping
I sit as a piece of stone, eyes closed.
For one thousand years
Faint veins under cold skin
Look at my flowing breath.
Sensing gentle distant breeze
Leaf of east sea lotus
Screaming of crow and magpie
And light on my forehead of the dawn moon.
Who would believe!
To endure this unbearable weeping
I sit as a piece of stone
Solitary lotus position.
Two kayageums are used in the piece: 1)Sanjo kayageum (a smaller instrument most often used in fast music, folk music, and virtuoso instrumental pieces); and 2) Peopgeum (larger, playing mostly slow music and court music). In Blue Yellow River the composer has occasionally departed from the traditional manner of playing the kayageum. For example, instead of damping each note before playing the next note (as is usual in traditional kayageum music), here the player will, in certain passages, let the notes ring, allowing the sounds to overlap and accumulate. Also, the player is asked to produce non-traditional timbres by plucking the strings in a variety of places, by muting the strings with the hand and by placing a metal thimble against the strings. - Hyo-shin Na
This premiere of “Blue Yellow River” was made possible in part by Nora Norden and a grant from the Zellerbach Family Fund.
Melody
In “Melody”, the melody is drawn from the letters of the names of its dedicatees, Gisela Gronmeyer and Reinhardt Oelschlägel. The rhythms of the melody are often determined by the full possible duration of the performer's breath. - Christian Wolff
Burdocks
Is for one or more groupings of players. It's a collection (from which one can choose what to play) of different, distinctive compositional ideas in ten parts. The ten parts include specific notations on staves; notations indicating only durations, often depending on the other sounds a player hears; and various verbal directions both explicit and suggestive. Various numbers of performers (no upward limit) can play, using any means of making sounds. Any number of the ten parts can be played simultaneously or overlapped.
I had an image in my mind (before having heard them) of the Scratch Orchestra, a varied community of musicians (classical, folk, experimental, jazz, et cetera), professional and amateur musicians along with non-musians, joined in a populist-anarchist spirit more or less guided by Cornelius Cardew with Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons. I had also been affected by hearing a recording of Ba-Benzele Pygmy music, quasi-improvised, polyphonically, by a whole community. - Christian Wolff
Genres
20th century classicalNew music
Musical Selections
Rain Study, for piano (1999) (11:01) / Hyo-Shin NaPerformers
Thomas Schultz, pianoSubjects
20th century classicalNew music
Piano music
Related Event
Other Minds Festival 6Related place
San Francisco (Calif.) (was recorded at)Related Entities
Other Minds FestivalNa, Hyo-shin
Schultz, Thomas (Pianist)